This invention relates generally to a dispenser rack for containers such as plastic bottles and more particularly to a track for suspending bottles by the neck for gravity feed having a pivoted gate assembly and a bottle engageable stop at the front exit end. In general, the gate assembly is pivotally mounted to control delivery of a rearward group of bottles spaced from a forwardly disposed bottle to release a bottle from the group when the foremost bottle is removed from the track by a consumer.
Merchandisers having track systems for holding bottles suspended by the neck and having a pivoted gate or rocker assembly providing at the forward end to control the dispensing of the bottles are not in themselves new. Two reference patents are particularly pertinent in the prior art. The first reference is U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,687 which discloses a bottle dispenser having a track with a spring biased transverse stop at the front end to maintain the foremost of a set of flanged neck bottles while the rest of the bottles are disposed in a group spaced from the foremost bottle at the rear end of the gate assembly. A pivoted gate assembly, engageable at its front end by the foremost bottle, is moved into the path of the group of bottles to hold them in place. Removal of the foremost bottle pivots the gate assembly out of the path of the first of the spaced group of bottles so that the foremost bottle of the group slides down the track under gravity to take the place of the removed bottle and move the rear end of the gate into a position holding the remainder of the group in place.
The track is provided by a large, heavy channel and the gate is somewhat complicated to include a rocker member movable in the vertical plane and pin-mounted in an inclined slot or in a member having an auxiliary element suspended at the rear end. This arrangement is complicated and consequently expensive to produce.
The second reference is U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,785. This patent discloses a track having a front end stop which is in the form of a downwardly and backwardly oriented slot configurated to receive the bottle flange. This arrangement requires the customer to manipulate the bottle for removal. The gate mechanism includes a flat horizontally arranged plate having a configuration engageable by the bottle cap to control movement of the gate into the path of a group of bottles to hold the bottles in place. In this reference the stop, the gate and the track tend to be complicated and therefore expensive to manufacture.
The present dispenser overcomes these and other problems in a manner not revealed by the known prior art.
This dispensing system for bottle containers having a cap and a neck flange includes a simple track of spaced rails held apart by U-shaped members and having an upwardly extending built-in stop at the forward end. A transverse support system is provided by cross members receiving the track U-shaped members in hanging relation. A gate assembly at the forward end of the spaced rails is mounted by a vertical pivot to provide a flat face to control the dispensing of the suspended bottles.
This invention provides a merchandiser dispensing assembly for bottles having a cap and a neck flange, the assembly comprises a track including opposed rail members spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the neck flange to support the bottles in sliding relation and the rail including a front end and a rear end; and a stop portion at the front end engagable by a first bottle: a gate member having a front end and a rear end and being pivotally mounted adjacent one of said rail members for movement of the front end out of the rail path while the rear end moves into the rail path whereby engagement of the front end of the gate member by said first bottle moves the rear end of the gate member into the path of a second, subsequent bottle to engage said subsequent bottle to arrest movement of said subsequent bottle a predetermined distance from said first bottle; support means for supporting the track in inclined relation tending to gravity feed the bottles toward the front end of the track.
It is an aspect of this invention to provide that the support means front and rear support members each including a plurality of support members; and the track includes U-shaped hangers holding the rails apart and being attachable to associated support members.
It is another aspect of the invention to provide that the support members each include a plurality of bracket hooks engageable by associated U-shaped hangers.
It is yet another aspect of the invention to provide that each rail is upwardly turned at the front end to provide the stop portion.
Still another aspect of the invention is to provide that the gate member includes front and rear bottle engageable cam portions and an intermediate pivot means; and for operatively mounting the gate member to the rail member.
It is another aspect of the invention to provide that spring means biases the gate member rear end into the path of the track.
It is yet another aspect of the invention to provide that one of said rail members includes a pivot post; said gate member is mounted to said post in pivotal relation.
It is still another aspect of the invention to provide that torsion means mounted to said post biases said gate member rear end into the path of said track.
It is an aspect of the invention to provide that the gate member includes front and rear portions and intermediate pivot means; the gate member rear end portion includes spaced limit means engageable with the rail member to limit movement of the gate member as it rotates about the pivot means.
This dispensing system is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and very efficient in operation.